By Bryan Rose, Vice President of Engagement + Senior Lead Navigator
Not long ago, Pastor Drew gathered a cross section of church leadership for an important Auxano vision clarity process update.
He was still new to the church, less than a year into his role, and everyone in the room assumed that change was imminent and inevitable. The pre-meeting tension was palpable. New pastor, new direction, here come the changes they naturally thought.
Anticipating the tension, Pastor Drew started the meeting with one visual and one sentence that immediately broke the ice and had everyone laughing.
“This is not what we are doing,” he said as two Cracker Barrel logos (before and after) appeared on the screen.
The room broke into laughter, shoulders relaxed, and the meeting tone changed completely. In less than 10 words, Pastor Drew set minds at ease and set the tone for a great Auxano Wet Concrete session.
Cracker Barrel’s recent attempted rebrand and remodel offers a sobering lesson to leaders in seasons of change. What was meant to modernize and update a beloved brand instead left loyal customers disoriented and skeptical. The design changes looked great in a conference room conversation with a consultant, but without a firm grip on the company’s identity, the strategy fell flat. Cracker Barrel’s leadership pushed through changes without anchoring or authenticating them in the chain’s identity. In chasing speed, they unsettled their most loyal customers.
The problem was not that changes were unneeded. The problem was not the lack of a plan. The problem was not bringing in a consultant. The problem was the wrong kind of planning that focused on modernized operations and visual outcomes before articulating, or re-articulating, their identity.
That’s a costly mistake for restaurants. It’s an even costlier mistake for churches.
In ministry, church leaders often feel the pressure to act quickly. A new strategic plan can feel like progress: detailed goals, growth projections, and new logos. But without answering the deeper questions of identity (What is our disciple-making Mission? What are our disciple-shaping Values? What is our disciple-moving Strategy? What are our disciple-defining Outcomes?) rooted in the Great Commission, those plans rarely endure.
This is where most church consulting models miss the mark. They sell speed by offering “plug-and-play” plans, best-practice solutions, and short-term problem solving. They promote doing what someone else is doing (usually whatever notable church the consultant once served) and expecting those results.
Two decades of church consulting experience at Auxano have proven this to be true:
Speed is easy and cheap.
Clarity may cost more time and money… but clarity endures.
Just ask the former leadership at Cracker Barrel.
At Auxano, we call this posture Clarity First. It’s not just our catch phrase; it’s our conviction. We believe that before you plan, you frame. Before you move, you define. Before you implement, you understand. Clarity of identity is what gives strategic planning lasting impact.
Speed, on its own, is easy. Strategic planning that focuses on practices, programs, and best practices feels efficient. It feels productive and affordable. But speed without clarity carries hidden costs:
Trust fractures when people sense the strategic plan doesn’t reflect the church’s calling.
Energy fragments when staff and volunteers chase competing goals.
Momentum fades when leaders must replace the plan in a few years because it never really fit.
Cracker Barrel learned this lesson the hard way. Churches don’t need to repeat it.
Navigating clarity doesn’t just prevent mistakes, it produces confidence through…
…alignment as leaders and teams understand their role in the bigger picture.
…trust as congregations follow leaders who anchor change in identity.
…energy as ministries aim their effort at disciple-making, not siloed agendas.
…impact as churches don’t just grow busier, they grow disciple-makers.
Navigating clarity means that anchoring identity through Vision Framing and describing direction through Vision Planning moves church leaders to make needed change in ways that last.
If you’re facing a season of change, resist the pull to move faster than clarity allows.
Take the time to name your disciple-making identity before you plot your disciple-making direction. Don’t just adopt a plan from someone else’s best practices; embrace the necessary challenge of understanding your God-given uniqueness.
Change is inevitable, but change without clarity can be regrettable.
Change is inevitable.
Clarity makes it transformational.
Speed is easy, but clarity endures.